Thailand

Mine Ban Policy

The Kingdom of Thailand signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 27 November 1998, and became a State Party on 1 May 1999. Thailand has not enacted comprehensive domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. A 2002 draft version of the Office of the Prime Minister Regulations Governing the Implementation of the Convention is still under consideration. This draft will apparently be used to amend existing regulations.^[1]

Thailand submitted its ninth annual Article 7 transparency report in April 2007, covering calendar year 2006.^[2] Thailand used voluntary Form J to report on its mine risk education and victim assistance master plans.

At the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2006, Thailand made a statement during the general exchange of views, as well as during the sessions on mine clearance and victim assistance. Thailand participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2006 and April 2007. In the 2007 meeting, it made interventions on resource mobilization, mine clearance and victim assistance.

Thailand has not engaged in the discussions that States Parties have had on matters of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2 and 3. Thus, it has not made known its views on the issues of joint military operations with states not party to the treaty, foreign stockpiling and transit of antipersonnel mines, antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes or antihandling devices, and the permissible number of mines retained for training.

The ICBL, Thailand Campaign to Ban Landmines (TCBL), and UN Development Programme (UNDP) jointly organized an event in Bangkok to release Landmine Monitor Report 2006 on 13 September 2006. It was attended by Police General Chitchai Wannasathit, then Interim Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister, among others.

Following the coup d’état in Thailand on 19 September 2006, the TCBL requested a meeting with the new government. In April 2007, the TCBL met with Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsrang Niumpradit and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sawanit Kongsiri to express its concerns regarding the upcoming clearance deadline in May 2009, criteria and safety standards for area reduction, and possible reorganization of the Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC). The Deputy Minister said that Prime Minister General Surayud Chulanont supports landmine issues because he worked in the border area as a military officer in the past and understood the suffering caused by landmines very well.^[3]

Production, Transfer and Use

Thailand has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Thailand formerly imported antipersonnel mines from the United States, Italy, China and the former Yugoslavia.

Thai officials indicate that there were no confirmed instances of use of antipersonnel mines on Thai soil in 2006 or early 2007.^[4] However, there were media accounts of one mine incident during this Landmine Monitor reporting period. On 18 April 2007, a deputy police chief was severely injured when he stepped on a homemade landmine while inspecting the scene of a bomb explosion in Paiwan sub-district of Tak Bai district in Narathiwat province of southern Thailand.^[5]

On 19 March 2006, also in Narathiwat province, the head of the Narathiwat demining team stepped on a victim-activated explosive device while inspecting the torching of a cellular reception pole. There was speculation that rebels set the fire in order to lure authorities to the site.^[6] The rebels that began fighting in southern Thailand in January 2004 have in the past used only command-detonated improvised explosive devices.

In addition, the Deputy Governor of Burirum province told Landmine Monitor in May 2006 that there was new use of landmines by persons involved in illegal logging along the Thai-Cambodian border at Lahansai district of Burirum province.^[7] Landmine Monitor is unable to investigate such allegations.

Stockpiling and Destruction

Thailand completed destruction of 337,725 stockpiled antipersonnel mines on 24 April 2003. Thailand retained 4,970 antipersonnel mines for training by the Royal Thai Army, Navy and Air Force, and the Thai National Police. The number of retained mines did not change from 2001, when the number was determined, through 2004.

In 2005 and 2006 Thailand consumed 257 antipersonnel mines in training, including 238 by the National Police Department (159 M14 and 79 M16) and 19 by the Royal Thai Air Force (M14), leaving a total of 4,713 mines.^[8]

Thailand has not yet reported in any detail on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines, as agreed by States Parties. In its April 2007 Article 7 report, Thailand did not use the new expanded Form D for reporting on retained mines agreed by States Parties in December 2005. The total of 4,000 mines under the control of the army and navy has not changed since 2001. It is unknown if they have an active training program. Thailand has offered no rationale for why the retained mines are held by four different security services.

Thailand has not undertaken physical modifications of its Claymore mine stockpile to ensure use only in command-detonated mode. TMAC repeated in March 2007 that all units have received orders that Claymore mines are to be used only in command-detonated mode.^[9]

Landmine and ERW Problem

Thailand is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), both abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) and unexploded ordnance (UXO), as a result of conflicts on all four of its borders with Cambodia, Laos, Burma and Malaysia. The 2001 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) identified 530 communities in 27 of 76 provinces and over 500,000 people as mine-affected. It estimated 2,557 square kilometers were mine/ERW contaminated, although the Thailand Mine Action Center believes technical survey will confirm about 500 square kilometers of actual contamination.^[10]

Thailand’s 700-kilometer border with Cambodia, used as a base by Cambodian guerrilla factions in the 1980s and 1990s, is worst affected, accounting for three-quarters of the LIS estimate and 51 of 69 high impact communities.^[11] More than half of the mine incidents in Thailand have occurred on this border.^[12] The Cambodian border is also contaminated by artillery and mortar shells fired by Vietnamese and Cambodian government forces and caches of abandoned mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition left by Cambodian guerrilla groups.^[13]

On the border with Burma the LIS identified 139 affected communities and 240 contaminated areas.^[14] Periodic spillover into Thailand of fighting between Burmese government forces and ethnic minority armies has deterred efforts either to survey or clear affected areas on the border.^[15]

The main impact of mines and ERW on these borders is to prevent use of forest resources, cropland, pasture, and water resources. Residential areas, roads and other major infrastructure are rarely affected.^[16] Contamination on the border with Laos is limited and negligible on the border with Malaysia.^[17]

Mine Action Program

Responsibility for overseeing mine action lies with the National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action, set up in 2000. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes representatives of all major ministries and government departments. Its duties include coordinating national and international support for demining, monitoring Thailand’s progress towards meeting its Mine Ban Treaty obligations and monitoring implementation of the law banning landmines.^[18] The National Committee’s mandate expired in January 2005 and was not renewed until November 2006 after the military coup d’état.^[19]

The Thailand Mine Action Center was established in 1999 under the Armed Forces Supreme Command to coordinate and implement mine action, including survey, clearance, mine risk education and victim assistance. Its reorganization has been mooted since 2005, prompted by the slow progress of demining and the armed forces’ limited budget for operations.^[20]

TMAC uses an old version of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), which was installed in 2001. There is no national legislation on mine action, other than government orders setting up the National Committee and TMAC. TMAC’s humanitarian mine action units operate according to Thai national standards said to be based on International Mine Action Standards.^[21]

Strategic Mine Action Planning

Thailand’s Master Plan on Humanitarian Mine Action No. 2 (2005-2009), drawn up by TMAC, sets out general objectives of mine action, emphasizing the integration of mine action into the National Socioeconomic Development Plan.^[22] In view of the large estimate of contaminated area produced by the LIS and the slow progress of clearance operations, TMAC has increasingly focused on area reduction; during 2006 TMAC developed an action plan for area reduction.^[23]

The National Committee convened a meeting on 26 February 2007, chaired by the new Prime Minister, General Surayud Chulanont, which agreed in principle to TMAC’s reorganization, to the proposed area reduction plan funded with the 120 million Baht (US$3.4 million) and to TMAC’s annual budget. It also approved strategic plans for 2007-2011 on mine risk education and victim assistance and appointed five subcommittees for humanitarian mine action.^[24]

By April 2007 TMAC had submitted its area reduction plan to the Supreme Command and was working with the Public Sector Development Commission on TMAC’s transformation into a civilian organization.^[25]

The area reduction plan anticipates that technical survey will reduce the amount of land requiring clearance to about 500 square kilometers. However, the survey may not be completed before Thailand submits a request for an extension of its Article 5 clearance deadline.^[26]

Demining

TMAC’s four humanitarian mine action units (HMAUs) include three army units reporting to army task forces and one unit of marines reporting to the navy-a structure that has hampered coordination, efficiency and productivity for several years.^[27] Three of the HMAUs work on the border with Cambodia, the fourth on the border with Laos. TMAC’s 470 staff in 2005 were reduced by budget cuts to 233 staff (working with 28 mine detection dogs) in fiscal year 2006 (October 2005-September 2006).^[28]

In 2006 the HMAUs placed 403 warning signs around affected areas, bringing to 5,236 the total number of signs put up since 2000.^[29]

Demining in Thailand is also conducted by three NGOs, coordinated by TMAC: Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support (JAHDS), General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation (GCCF),^[30] and Peace Road Organization (PRO). JAHDS ceased demining in July 2006 and its operations team joined PRO, which was established in October. PRO receives financial support from JAHDS and works in the same area.^[31]

For the technical survey of contaminated areas approved in February 2007, TMAC planned to deploy six survey teams in October 2007; it expected operations to last 220 days.^[32]

Landmine/ERW Clearance

Land cleared in 2006 declined for the second successive year, falling 11 percent to less than one square kilometer. Manual clearance by the HMAUs, with much reduced human resources, dropped 40 percent in 2006 to 441,918 square meters. The area manually demined by NGOs increased by 58 percent to 531,334 square meters.^[33]

In contrast to its clearance results, TMAC cancelled 10 square kilometers of suspected mine-affected land in 2006, double the amount in 2005.^[34] TMAC has given increasing emphasis to area reduction/cancellation since 2005, eliminating land that has been in regular use, for example ploughed land under cultivation for two to three years where no incidents have been reported.^[35] A total of 15.5 square kilometers was released to communities in 2006, including land that had been area-reduced in 2005 but pending quality assurance or other checks.^[36]

As in previous years, Thailand did not report any battle area clearance in 2006. However, it appears that much of the land cleared in 2006 was contaminated with ERW rather than with mines.

In 2007 TMAC’s operations continued at a similar pace, manually clearing 69,489 square meters in the first two months. PRO cleared 31,906 square meters in this period.^[38]

Summary of Efforts to Comply with Article 5

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Thailand is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible but no later than 1 May 2009. By April 2007, after seven years of demining operations, Thailand had cleared and reduced 20 square kilometers, less than one percent of the contaminated area identified by the LIS in 2001 and four percent of the approximately 500 square kilometers that TMAC believes likely to be contaminated. With this slow rate of progress in previous years, there seems no realistic possibility that Thailand will meet its Article 5 deadline.

TMAC has sought to accelerate clearance and release of land since 2005 by emphasizing area reduction and technical survey.^[39] At the April 2007 Standing Committee meetings, Thailand stated that “despite our very best efforts, an extension request for mine clearance may be inevitable.” It added, “this extension request will by no means set back our commitment and efforts to clear mines within our territory as soon as is realistically possible.”^[40] TMAC expects Thailand will submit a request for extension of its Article 5 deadline by March 2008.^[41]

Mine Risk Education

Organizations involved in mine risk education (MRE) in 2006 included TMAC’s four HMAUs and the NGOs Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees (COERR), General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation (GCCF), Handicap International-Thailand (HI) and Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

At least 84,451 people received MRE in 2006 (11,872 reached by the HMAUs, 2,192 by ADPC, 5,594 by COERR, 10,924 by GCCF, 3,507 by HI’s Disability and Development Program and 50,362 by HI’s Burmese Border Program); numbers were not recorded by JRS.^[43] This represents a decrease of about 70 percent from 2005 (271,657 beneficiaries), but the main reason is a change in counting practices by the HMAUs. In previous years, MRE beneficiaries were counted repeatedly if their village was visited more than once per year, resulting in large-scale duplication.^[44] A secondary factor in the decrease was the move of HI’s program to a smaller location.^[45]

In 2006 MRE was conducted in 13 of 27 mine-affected provinces in Thailand. TMAC’s four HMAUs were responsible for MRE activities in communities in their operating areas, most of which are along Thai-Cambodia and Thai-Laos borders.^[46] NGOs conducted MRE activities mostly in high-risk areas on the Thai-Cambodia and Thai-Burma borders. Thailand provided the location of all MRE activities in its April 2007 Article 7 report.^[47]

On 27 February 2007 the TMAC Master Plan for Mine Risk Education 2007-2011 was adopted and approved by the National Committee for Humanitarian Mine Action. The master plan notes which government agencies would be responsible for MRE, and mentions the role of NGOs, but lacks detailed planning and timeframes.^[48]

MRE capacity in 2006 consisted of 32 MRE officers including two HI technical advisors. The HMAUs have 23 MRE officers, ADPC two, COERR two, and HI has two officers for the MRE project at Surin and Burirum.

TMAC delivered MRE in 39 mine-affected communities in 2006 (417 in 2005) through HMAU military officers trained in MRE.^[49] Due to budget constraints no officers were trained in 2006; training was planned to restart in mid-2007. HMAU MRE teams spend up to two weeks in each community. Their main activities are marking-403 warning signs were erected in 2006-and awareness-raising, but presentations also cover other topics such as agriculture and drugs. From 2000 to the end of 2006, TMAC’s MRE activities reached 800 communities (499,944 villagers) and posted 5,236 warning signs.^[50]

ADPC continued its MRE program for students and teachers in mine-affected communities in Mae Hong Son province on the Thai-Burma border. In July 2006, ADPC delivered MRE through a “learning camp activity” to 2,192 people, including 1,038 people (612 children and 426 adults) from the five high-risk districts.^[51]

In 2006, COERR focused its MRE project on Ta Phraya district, Sa Kaeo province. Through two MRE educators 1,550 students and teachers received MRE; indirect beneficiaries were 4,044 villagers who received MRE from their children who had been trained by COERR.^[52]

GCCF deminers posting mine warning signs also deliver MRE messages to local people, and GCCF includes MRE in community activities as part of its demining and victim assistance project in Domepradit and Namyuen districts, Ubonratchathani province; in total, GCCF delivered MRE messages to 10,924 local people in 2006.^[53]

HI’s Disability and Development Program executed several projects in 2006-2007.  The 14-month Development on Quality of Life of Children with Disability, in the border provinces of Si Sa Ket and Ubonratchathani, completed in February 2006 with trained teachers continuing to deliver MRE in schools.  HI, after completing in April 2005 its first Proactive Mine Risk Education project, also in Si Sa Ket and Ubonratchathani provinces, began two further, similar MRE projects.^[54] HI described these as geographical extensions of its previous Proactive Mine Risk Education project in Si Sa Ket and Ubonratchathani provinces, but using different methodologies. One project, from April 2006 to June 2007, in Burirum and Surin provinces, involved the training of 34 teachers who then provided MRE to 3,507 students; 968,218 people were also reached through radio spots on disability prevention.^[55] In the second project, starting in January 2007, HI provided school-based MRE in Trat province and Soi Dao district of Chanthaburi province; this project stressed training of trainers and/or peer to peer MRE. HI planned to assess the project before expanding it to all 27 mine-affected provinces if funding permits.^[56]

In 2006 HI’s Burmese Border Program continued MRE in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border in Tak, Mae Hong Son, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi provinces. Six HI MRE advisors and 50 MRE camp staff reached 50,362 people through 15,468 home visits, 281 training sessions in camps, and 29 trainings in Thai Karen villages; mass awareness events were also held.^[57]

JRS’s MRE project in Shan displaced people’s community, Chiang Mai province, ended in June 2006 due to insufficient staff levels.^[58]

Landmine/ERW Casualties

In 2006, 26 new mine/ERW casualties were reported by TMAC and hospitals, including four killed and 22 injured. Most casualties were civilian (19), two were women and four were children. Two of the casualties were Burmese, including one boy who was injured. This is a significant decrease from the 51 casualties reported in 2005, when one was killed and 50 injured.^[59] However, data collection in Thailand is incomplete and there is under-reporting of casualties.

TMAC’s four humanitarian mine action units recorded 14 new mine casualties in 2006 (four people killed and 10 injured), a decrease from 18 in 2005.^[60] HMAU1 in Sa Kaeo province reported six casualties. HMAU2 reported one person killed in Chanthaburi and two injured in Trat province. HMAU3 (Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubonratchatani provinces) reported five people injured.^[61] Landmine Monitor, through hospital sources, identified at least 12 other casualties not recorded by TMAC. All were injured survivors receiving treatment. No new mine casualties were identified through media reports.^[62]

Males continued to be over 90 percent (24) of all the casualties reported, including 20 men (seven of whom were soldiers) and four boys.

All but one of the casualties were collecting forest products or engaged in other livelihood activities such as woodcutting and hunting. Three boys were killed while playing with ERW in Sao Kaeo. Of the seven military casualties all but one were injured while on patrol; the other soldier was injured by an unknown device while collecting forest products. Casualties along the Thai-Cambodia border were 77 percent (20) of the total, and in the Thai-Burma border provinces were 15 percent (four) of the total; these casualties were reported by TMAC.^[63] Five military casualties not recorded by TMAC occurred in unknown locations. No casualties were reported from Thai-Laos border provinces.

Casualties continued to be reported in 2007, with six from January to May: all were injured, and three were Cambodian nationals.^[64]

The most comprehensive casualty data collection remains the 2001 nationwide LIS, which identified at least 3,646 casualties (1,511 killed, 2,133 injured and two unknown).^[65]

Data Collection

There is no ongoing and comprehensive system of data collection in Thailand. As a result, the total number of mine/ERW casualties is unknown. Under-reporting of new casualties in Thailand is widely acknowledged; in 2005 Thailand stated that there were likely at least 100 new mine/ERW casualties per year. TMAC, through the HMAUs, collects new incident reports in only 16 provinces located mainly on the Thai-Cambodia border, with some information also obtained from the Ministry of Public Health. TMAC does not, for example, operate in Mae Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai province, where the mine contamination is due to conflict in 2003 along the Thai-Burma border. Under-reporting of casualties also occurs in provinces where HMAU is operational, as Landmine Monitor data collection supports.^[66] Low mortality rates suggest that fatal casualties are not always reported.^[67] There also is under-reporting of non-Thai mine/ERW casualties who are injured or killed in Thailand.^[68]

TMAC does not use casualty data for planning and monitoring survivor assistance; the IMSMA database was not fully operational as of June 2007 and staff lacked capacity.^[69] However, TMAC reportedly shared a database of landmine survivors with the ministries of public health and social development and human security.^[70]

Although TMAC organized a seminar on data collection in April 2006, no follow-up activities or meetings had been reported as of May 2007.^[71] Thailand’s survivor assistance plan provides no details on development of the data collection system.^[72]

General injury surveillance in Thailand is limited to road traffic accidents or epidemics and does not generally include mine/ERW casualties, though the Ministry of Health has reported some new casualties to TMAC.^[73] The 2001 Report of Disabled Persons Survey 2001 identified 1,100,761 people with disabilities (1.8 percent of the population).^[74] Data from the survey and national surveillance is used for planning services for people with disabilities and for disease prevention.^[75]

Survivor Assistance

Medical and rehabilitation services in Thailand are available through the national health insurance scheme.^[76] But most mine/ERW incidents involve poor marginalized farming families who experience difficulties coping with the costs of care and rehabilitation. The Thai government provides survivors with an allowance to support their necessary emergency medical treatment. The lack of medical personnel at the community level has partly been addressed through the deployment of emergency response teams in 37 percent of Thailand’s districts; teams should be operating in all districts by 2011.^[77]

Physical rehabilitation services are provided by military hospitals, public health centers and private institutions. Services suffer from insufficient supplies; there is a lack of trained technicians and government rehabilitation personnel working in mine-affected areas, and the cost of travel is often prohibitive for rural people.^[78]

Public health centers, military hospitals and psychiatric hospitals provide post-traumatic stress counseling, and peer-support groups are available. Economic reintegration and micro-credit schemes are available to some extent.^[79]

Thailand has legislation and policies to protect the rights of people with disabilities. The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has direct responsibility for disability issues through the Office of Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities.^[80] On 30 March 2007 Thailand signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but not the Optional Protocol which allows the monitoring of its implementation. Thailand will check its legislation, and modify this if needed before ratification, which is expected within one year.^[81]

Progress in Meeting VA24 Survivor Assistance Objectives

At the First Review Conference in Nairobi in November-December 2004, Thailand was identified as one of 24 States Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors and “the greatest responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for assistance” in providing adequate services for the care, rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors.^[82]

As part of its commitment to the Nairobi Action Plan Thailand presented its 2005-2009 survivor assistance objectives to the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in November-December 2005, but it has not since then provided an update on progress towards achieving the objectives, or any revision of plans and objectives, neither at the Seventh Meeting in September 2006 nor at the Standing Committee meetings in April 2007.^[83] On survivor assistance, Thailand’s Article 7 report for 2006 stated only that the master plan for survivor assistance had been completed and that no donor funding had been provided for this activity in 2006.^[84]

In 2006 Thailand did not request or receive support from the victim assistance specialist of the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit (ISU).^[85]

PWD = people with disabilities; SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-limited

While acknowledging mines/ERW as a “major obstacle” to development and economic growth in rural border communities, Thailand’s objectives do not meet SMART criteria: specific timeframes are not set, implementation responsibilities have not been assigned, and no plans have been reported to realize the stated objectives.^[87] According to TMAC, mine/ERW incidents (and therefore survivors) are a small problem and low priority for both the government and general public compared to other health issues.^[88]

Survivor Assistance Strategic Framework

Thailand stated in May 2006 that “relevant ministries and NGOs have continued to carry out their responsibilities in full awareness” of the Master Plan on Mine Victim Assistance for the years 2007-2011. The plan was finalized in December 2005 and approved at the National Mine Action Committee meeting on 26 February 2007.^[89] The February meeting also created a survivor assistance subcommittee, with the TCBL, major NGOs and leaders of landmine survivors as members.^[90]

TMAC included limited survivor assistance in its mine action program, and has taken the role of coordinator for activities of government agencies and NGOs; however, it does not include provision for survivor assistance in its budget allocations.^[91] In 2006 TMAC reported visiting five new mine survivors, and informed government agencies to provide assistance to them.^[92]

Care for people with disabilities including mine/ERW survivors is specified in Thailand’s Tenth National Economic and Social Development Plan, in which survivors “are recognized as a distinct group of persons who need special care and support.” ^[93] The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security is the implementing agency for socioeconomic reintegration programs.

At least 317,894 people with disabilities in Thailand received services during 2006, including 202 mine/ERW survivors and 195 children of survivors. Of these, 10 survivors received several services, 150 received physical rehabilitation, 200 received socioeconomic reintegration and/or education services, and 37 received training. Within this total, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security provided physical rehabilitation to 309,456 people and income-generating activities for 1,300 people.^[94] TMAC referred five mine/ERW survivors to socioeconomic support.^[95] The Sirindhorn National Medical Rehabilitation Center provided 5,480 people with physical rehabilitation (number of survivors unknown).^[96] Pramongkutklao Hospital provided an unspecified number of people with 180 orthopedic devices (number of survivors unknown).^[97] Srisungval Hospital provided one survivor with emergency and continuing medical care, as well as psychosocial support.^[98] Both Prachuab Kirikhan and Trat hospitals each provided three survivors with emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation, and psychosocial support.^[99] Maharaj Nakorn Chiangmai Hospital provided 86 people with physical rehabilitation (number of survivors unknown).^[100] Mae Sot Hospital provided three survivors with emergency and continuing medical care, physical rehabilitation, and psychosocial support.^[101] The Prosthetic Foundation provided 1,215 persons with physical rehabilitation (99 survivors).^[102] The General Chatichai Choonhavan Foundation provided 10 people with socioeconomic and two with educational assistance and 118 assistive devices to an unspecified number of people.^[103] The Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees provided 184 children of survivors with educational assistance and contributed financially to a school farming project. ^[104] Handicap International provided 42 survivors with prosthetic repairs and 84 people with income-generation training (37 were mine/ERW survivors).^[105] The Association of Persons with Physical Disability International provided nine survivors with physical rehabilitation and two children of survivors with educational assistance.^[106] Thai Soroptimist International chapter of Dusit and Single Drop of Sea Water volunteer group both provided scholarships to children of survivors (eight and one respectively).^[107]

The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security continued to implement the national community-based rehabilitation project, which began in 2004 and covered remote areas in 50 of 76 provinces in Thailand by 2007. By 2008 the network will cover all provinces. An income-generation assistance project also continued in collaboration with 76 local governmental organizations. The project expanded from six pilot provinces in 2003 to 47 by 2006; plans for 2007 include expansion to 15 more provinces and another 13 in 2008.^[108]

Services for non-Thai Nationals

Landmine survivors from Burma seeking assistance in Thailand receive medical care at hospitals in refugee camps and public district hospitals in the Thai-Burma border provinces, including Tak, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi. Physical rehabilitation is available at the Mae Sot General Hospital, Mae Tao Clinic prosthetic department, and within refugee camps at prosthetic workshops run by Handicap International.

At least 1,747 Burmese nationals with disabilities received services during 2006, including 286 mine/ERW survivors. Of these, 21 people received several services, 106 received emergency medical care, 146 received physical rehabilitation and 13 received socioeconomic reintegration and/or education services. Within this total, the ICRC War Wounded program provided 53 people with medical assistance (42 mine casualties).^[109] Mae Tao Clinic provided 17 survivors with emergency medical care, and 175 with physical rehabilitation (146 mine survivors).^[110] Mae Sot Hospital provided 18 survivors with emergency and continuing medical care, and physical rehabilitation.^[111] Srisungval Hospital provided three survivors with emergency and continuing medical care, and physical rehabilitation.^[112] Handicap International assisted 1,194 people with prostheses and distributed 223 assistive devices (number of survivors unknown).^[113] The Karen Handicap Welfare Association, through Care Villa, provided 16 people with vocational training and peer support (13 mine survivors).^[114] The Shan Health Committee assisted an unspecified number of mine survivors from Burma.

Cambodians also seek emergency medical care in Thailand and at least 17 mine/ERW survivors received free medical care in Thai hospitals under the Ministry of Public Health along the border in 2006 for emergency treatment, continuing medical care and physical rehabilitation.^[115]

At the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot district, Tak province, emergency medical assistance and referral is provided to war injury survivors who arrive across the border. It also supports mobile clinics within Burma, at Pa Hite and Mae La Poh Hta, to provide health services for internally displaced people.^[116] Operations were suspended temporarily in mid-2006 due to the escalation of hostilities. Every year Mae Tao Clinic trains medical staff throughout the border region: five new trainees arrived in December 2006 and another four in early 2007. The Prosthetic Department received funding from Clear Path International for prosthetic training.

The Karen Handicap Welfare Association established a hostel in Mae La refugee camp for disabled people called Care Villa. In 2006, over 13 of 16 residents were survivors who received vocational training and English as a second language.^[117]

The Shan Health Committee maintains two sub-clinics in Fang district specifically for the treatment of mine casualties. The prosthetics clinic is managed by two technicians who are also landmine survivors.

Mae Sot General Hospital in Mae Sot district, Tak province, Srisungval Hospital in Muang district, Mae Hong Son province and the provincial Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital, all continued to provide prosthetic fitting or repair services and medical assistance to Burmese mine survivors.^[118]

Backpack Health Worker teams operate an independent medical service from Thailand into rebel-controlled areas of Burma (Mon, Karen, Karenni and Shan states) to provide public health education and emergency care, including amputations for mine casualties. Some receive medical training from the International Rescue Committee.^[119]

The ICRC War Wounded program, which assists persons injured by conflict, covers initial hospitalization costs, while referring to partner organizations for transfer and follow-up costs.^[120]

Malteser International-Germany provided emergency relief, public health and primary home care within refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border.^[121]

Funding and Assistance

Landmine Monitor identified international funding of $800,547 (€637,226) from three countries and the European Commission (EC) for mine action in Thailand in 2006, an increase of 30 percent from 2005 ($614,441 donated by three countries).^[122] Donors reporting funds in 2006 were:

• Australia: A$160,000 ($120,560) to AUSTCARE for MRE for refugees on the Thai/Burma border;^[123]
• EC: €302,100 ($379,528) to HI for MRE for refugees on the Thai-Burma border ;^[124]
• Japan: ¥34,006,847 ($292,459) to GCCF for mine and UXO clearance in Sa Kaew province;^[125]
• US: $8,000 from the Department of Defense for mine action.^[126]

National Contribution to Mine Action

National funding consisted of 18.21 million baht ($480,744) allocated through the Ministry of Defense to TMAC in fiscal year 2006 (1 October 2005-30 September 2006); this was less than half the 38.21 million baht (about $950,000) allocated to TMAC by the government in fiscal year 2005.^[127]

Since its creation in 1999 TMAC has been funded by the military, which seconded both headquarters staff and deminers. However, international donors, led by the US, have also provided financial and material support; the US reported providing $15 million-worth of support to TMAC from 1999 to 2006.^[128] Other major donors include Australia, Canada, China and Japan. Thailand’s two demining NGOs, GCCF and PRO (previously JAHDS) have relied on donor funding but also receive support from TMAC in the form of equipment and training.^[129]